Page 42 of Enchanted Shadows (The Enchanted Kingdom #6)

G oing from the tense meeting to seeing the women off for their break was an abrupt change in emotion. Calix was back to being heavily guarded in his room. His meals would be brought to him there, as Krew wisely refused to let him wander the castle free.

We had the thirty days of our training break to get this drama with Kessara’s family settled.

Miles might joke that I spoiled this team, but the truth was, more than it was spoiling, I had never been so unfocused as I had with this training group.

Between Theon’s loyalists and Kessara’s presence, things had spiraled out of control.

I needed to do better. I needed to be able to focus and train them up to the level I knew they were capable of.

And I knew neither Kessara or I would be focused and dialed in unless we did this now.

So off to Agria we went. In the morning.

The rest of the team had gathered in the open area next to the gardens with their bags, so that was where we headed.

“Will the two of you be in Nerede for the harvest festival?” Elsie asked us .

Kessara’s eyes went to mine as if asking for permission.

I didn’t know what she wanted to say, but I didn’t mind. “If we are here for that, but unfortunately I think we will just miss it.”

“We are leaving for Agria in the morning. My mother has beckoned me to make sure I’m still alive. And the Commander won’t let me go alone.”

“Tomorrow?” Wren repeated.

She gave them a nod. “Unfortunately.”

Fern turned toward me. “Do you want me to go along with you? There is plenty of water on the way, and the rainforest has rain as well. It’s not as if I have family here to be with.”

I appreciated her offer. Her immediate urge to help. “The training breaks are there for you to take them. It is for your mental health as much as anything. You need a break, Fern.”

“So do you,” Wren snapped at me.

“I do,” I admitted. I needed to sleep for a week straight. “And I will. Hopefully we will be back within a week or so. There will still be plenty of time to rest before training starts back up.”

Sam’s eyes darted to me and to Molly, who she whispered something to.

“What?” I asked.

Molly moved to whisper to Wren.

Sam smiled at me. “Nothing. I’m not sure how I’m going to live my life these next thirty days without you telling me to move or pick it up.”

I smirked. “You’ll manage. Enjoy your holidays, Slay Sisters. I will see you back at the barracks after. Ready to get to work.”

They hugged one another and said goodbyes as the four carriages pulled up which would deliver them home. We stayed until every last woman had boarded.

Kessara let out a deep breath, her eyes trailing the last carriage.

“Worried? ”

Her eyes found mine. “Yes and no. Honestly, I was thinking I hoped that I’d see them all again.”

“You are a part of this team, Kess. You aren’t going anywhere,” I reminded her.

“Except that I am. Back to Agria.”

My voice went serious. Lower. “Over my dead body will I let them force you to stay.”

“And that’s what weighs on me most.” She took my arm, without me offering it.

Was it because she assumed Calix could see us?

Or were we getting that comfortable with one another?

“Being forced to stay in Agria would not even surprise me at this point. But if something were to happen to you because of what you are to me?” She shook her head.

Wanting to lighten the mood I asked, “And what am I to you, Kessara?”

“My Commander. My husband. My partner in crime.”

I liked the sound of that. “We don’t have fancy lunch plans, but as your partner in crime, I do need to ask a favor.”

“Okay?” she asked as we headed inside.

“I need to spend time with my nephews this afternoon before we leave tomorrow. Warrick’s birthday is also tomorrow.

And I’m sure Krew will send word about our departure plans sometime this afternoon, but between all of that, can we grab some lunch, and you can give me a crash course on all things Agria? I want to be prepared.”

She smirked. “I can do that.”

Our lunch plates were slid to the side. Kessara was sketching, though horribly, the land of Agria. Where the forest ran. Where the castle was. Where the cities were located.

“It will rain. Often,” she told me .

She was schooling me in all things Agria, but I was distracted by the way the light came in through the windows and hit her dark hair.

“You’re going to need some lightweight clothes,” she added. “Or were you planning to wear your official gear the entire time?” Her eyes hit mine and I was struck again by how blue they were. How they matched Krew’s and Keir’s.

“Owen,” she snapped lightly. “What’s going on up there? If anything?”

I leaned back in to look at the map she made and decided to answer honestly. “I’m sometimes still shocked your eyes are blue.”

She smirked. “Well get used to it. You’re stuck with me.”

Was I though? I was stuck with her while she needed to be safe. If I did my job well, like I usually did, then she would be free to live her life. Free of me. So what in the hell was I doing beginning to fall for my wife when I knew she wanted freedom more than anything?

Like a moth to a flame, knowing damn good and well the flames could result in death but wanting to be close to it regardless, I brushed a piece of her hair out of the way.

“I was planning to wear my military gear. Remind them of who I am to Wylan. Krew has a crown for me to wear also if you think it would help.”

“I hate wearing my crown, so you’d only wear yours when I wear mine.” She smirked. “I would advise taking some lighter clothes, though. Like you wore for our wedding. Yes, it gets warm here in the summers, but nothing is quite like the humidity of the forest.”

She then wrote down a list of her mother and stepfather’s closest confidants, the advisors to the queen and king of Agria, and a basic idea of where her rooms were compared to where Damek’s were.

Finally, I had to ask, “Are you excited to go home?”

“I—” she inhaled deeply. “No? Also yes? It is familiar to me. The place which raised me. I don’t know that I would call it home , though.”

“So where is home then?”

“I’m not certain that I have one. Isn’t home more of an idea than a place anyway?” She tried to say it lightly, but I could hear the truth and pain laced into those words.

“Do you think Wylan could ever become your home?” I wasn’t sure where all this bravery was stemming from. I supposed the threat of death in Agria? Hard to tell.

She looked me in the eyes. “I hope so. I don’t know. Once you all get to know me, you might ship me back to Agria.”

“Kessara,” I scolded. “The more I know you, the less I want to be without you.”

Instead of laughing me off, she rose to my challenges and bravery with her own. It was just who she was. “And the more I know you... the more I wish I could’ve grown up here. Not because of my father, but because of the rest of you. Maybe our marriage wouldn’t have to be out of necessity.”

I looked into her eyes and she did the same.

Time stalled for a moment. Her words were mimicking what I was feeling on the inside.

I did not regret marrying Kessara out of necessity, but I was beginning to resent that it wasn’t real.

Only a few nights of her sleeping by my side and I found I looked forward to her company every day. Her wit. Her challenging me right back.

But she was a princess in her own right, and I was nothing but her foolish general. I had rushed in to help her, not realizing it would be my own demise in the end. Not because of threats from Agria, because of what it would do to my heart to watch her go and carve out her freedom.

Her eyes dipped to my lips. “When we go to Agria?—”

Her words dropped off because we heard whispers in the hallway .

“Hold that thought.” I dropped my voice to a whisper. “May I ask for one more quick favor, wife?”

“Yes.”

I grabbed her hand and pulled us toward the secret passageway. “Hide us in shadows so I can mess with my nephews.”

Within minutes, the world seemed brighter, less cruel.

Warrick and Arden made life seem full of possibility and hope.

They talked with Kessara for a little bit before we opted to head to the meadow.

Kessara shocked me by asking if she could come along.

We took extra guards per Krew’s request and headed outside into the sunshine.

Despite summer lingering for far too long, in the last few weeks, fall had arrived. It didn’t sneak in like it sometimes did; it seemed this year to just open a door and let us step from one season to the next. It was cooler, but with the heat from the sun, still gorgeous out.

The trees of the forest were starting to turn colors too, hues of yellow first, then some oranges. I would never tire of seeing this forest in the fall. A forest that had been black and dead for a decade giving us the promise that after a sleep, the trees would return strong once again.

I put up a target and helped Warrick and Arden practice with their bows. Arden’s was unsharpened sticks, as he was far too young.

“Can I start with a sword when you get back from your trip?” Warrick asked. He was in that in-between stage I remembered Wren being in. She was about his age when I disappeared to help form the disloyal.

Normally I would say no, but I was talking to a future king. A future king some in Savaryn were refusing to back, calling him the bastard prince instead. A phrase that made my blood run hot every time I heard it.

“Yeah,” I told him. “We’ll start you on a practice sword. ”

“Really?!” he exclaimed.

“Really.”

He passed his bow to Kessara kindly. “Wanna try?”

She smirked. “No thank you.”

“Owen can teach you how,” he urged.

She sent me that look, that damn look that both drove me to madness or could bring me to my knees.

I glared at her as I guessed, “She already knows how.”

“She does?!” Arden laughed. “No way.”

“I was well trained with weapons in Agria,” she told Warrick.